Thursday, October 30, 2008

Spooky Counter Top Halloween Decorations

This is the counter top under the witches cabinet. Gold colored lights gives it a haunting glow.I tucked some of the lights inside the caldron under some bloody bones and skull. I used some cheap plastic bones and a skull covering them with white tissue paper and glue. This gives them more texture and allows the paint to adhere to the plastic. Using a brown glaze and a rag I coated the bones wiping away the excess. To finish them off I used red paint for blood applying to places like the eye sockets, nose, and ends of bones.Masks and old books with a skull candy pail sits beside the cauldron.





Turn a cabinet into a witches cabinet for Halloween



For my Halloween party I wanted to turn a glass cabinet that I had into a spooky witches cabinet. I went around the house gathering up items that I thought would be interesting for my witches cabinet and here is the finished look.

I draped creepy cloth across the windows on the inside. They look like curtains that have hung forever and are now all tattered and torn.


I added lots of bottles filled with colored water.

Gourds from a previous years garden.

I found a package of sticky four fingered hands that had loops on the top, so they were perfect to put over the tops of bottles.

Here I added a true love potion bottle, a witches journal and gem stones scattered about.

The eyeballs are candy, I scattered some around and stuffed some into jars. This project was a lot of fun and added a lot of visual interest to the party.









Sunday, October 26, 2008

Magical Halloween Table Setting

My theme for this years Halloween Party was Witches, Wizards and other Magical Beings. So I decorated my table using a black tablecloth draped with torn creepy cloth. I then placed different size circle mirrors on the table along with polished glass pieces, tiny pumpkins, small plastic skulls and tea lights in sand filled glass candle holders. The glass candlelight's were placed on the larger mirror circles giving the setting a mystical feel.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Simple Halloween Decor

A big spider crawling over the wall, a dark stranger and a red satin throw on the chair makes this a spooky Halloween vignette.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Make Scary Signs and Tombstones from Construction Foam Scraps

This is how I made scary signs and tombstones from thrown away construction foam. The pieces I used were scraps that were put in a dumpster at a building site. I left the pieces the size that they were, but if you want to cut the foam use either a serrated knife or an electric knife. I used a soft graphite pencil to draw with. First I divided the foam piece into how many letters are in the word and then drew out my letters. Using my Dremel I began to cut the foam away, leaving the letters untouched and carving to a depth of about 1/4".


When I was satisfied with the carving I used a polymer clear coat called Sculpt and Coat to seal the foam. When dry I used a light gray paint as the base coat and a darker gray that I sponged on after the base coat dried. This gives the appearance of stone and helped to accent the letters.
Here is the finished BEWARE sign.
To make the tombstones use a knife to cut the tops of rectangles into tombstone shapes. Then use your imagination on what to carve on your tombstone. I choose to carve skulls, R.I.P. and roman numerals.
Check Spelling
Here are the two tombstones finished and in place against my cemetery wall.









Thursday, October 9, 2008

Make Magic and Spell Books for Halloween Decor

I found this stack of hardback books next to a dumpster awaiting their trip to the landfill. So I decided they would make perfect Magic and Spell Books for this years Halloween Party. With the books closed I first applied glue to the pages because I didn't want the books to actually open. Then I painted the entire book with black paint. After the paint dried, I used rubber stamps, embossing ink and embossing powder for the spells and magic book. On the big book of magic I just used a silver sharpie. To add some sparkle I used some orange and silver glitter nail polish that I had laying around.
These books will look good when added to my witches cabinet with my other Halloween props.


Thursday, October 2, 2008

Make Spooky Halloween Bottles for Party Decorations


The other day I found these labels at the Dollar Store. There was 8 labels in a package for $1.00. I already had some old bottles that I knew would be perfect for this project.

Because a couple of months ago my husband and I found a case of wine that someone had thrown out by the dumpster. It was thrown out because the wine had not been stored right. I found this out after opening a bottle and trying it and finding out it had turned to vinegar. I kept the wine, because you never know! Although the wine had turned to vinegar it was still usable for cooking. And now I've found a another use for the wine filled bottles, Halloween decorations! I soaked the bottles in soapy water to remove the labels. After a few minutes the old labels just slipped right off, so I was able to save them to use for a future project.


Here is how they turned out. The EMBALMING JUICE is my favorite spooky bottle. This large amber bottle is 13" tall, it's one that I already had and didn't know what to do with it.

And the ZOMBIE VIRUS is a vintage liquor bottle that was found in the basement of our building. These spooky bottles will be a nice addition to this years Halloween decorations.

I went and checked my email after I was done with my bottles and there was an email from my sister. She sent me this link to some free Halloween labels that you can print out and use. Some of them are very cool, so I guess I'm making some more Halloween bottles. I've got to wonder, how did she know that's what I was doing?

The next thing I'm working on is my witches potion and spell books. I'll put pictures up when I'm done.